Actually, the difference between the 2 women probably has a long to do with the selection of foundation garments. I'll bet Winslet has something compressing all the bulges and holding them into a sleek, uninterrupted line below the breasts. Estevan is going more natural. That's what women really look like.

I'll bet if you somehow were lucky enough to get into a position to undress the 2 women, Estevan would look far more graceful getting out of what she's got on.

Both women are trying to look good, of course. It's just a matter of taste. I think most women feel they ought to look more like Kate Winslet looks in that picture (including Kate Winslet). It's a lot of effort, and then it's a lot more effort to get out of that get-up.

But I'll bet plenty of men would prefer to spend time with someone who looks more like Estevan.

Chaz is in a ridiculous position, feeling challenged to seem masculine, and the stereotypical way to do that is to seem blocky and ungraceful. Look at the stances Chaz takes! It's totally alien to the concept of dancing.

It doesn't work for Gloria (but works for Kate) because Kate is more hourglass to start with. Nice on top, but a bit more of her is below the waist - and she has the waist to show off her assets. That style emphasizes the bust and the waist.

Gloria, OTOH, isn't all that broad in the beam - unusual for a Latina.

Winslet is standing still and has her shoulders back. Estefan is walking and the picture was taken right as her forward leg was crinkling the fabric to a maximum extent below her belly. Also, she seems to walk slightly hunched over, so that there are additional wrinkles above her belly and below her breasts.

As for the choice of contrasting shade for the bust area: I think they both made the right choice here. Winslet needs to even-out the hourglass look with the illusion of a larger bust, while Estefan does not need to emphasize this area.

Althouse is spot on in her analysis of Gloria vs Kate. Plus Kate is posing and wearing a tighter dress without sleeves (all of which optimizes the optical illusion effect of the dress design) plus Kate is 18 years younger and in better shape than Gloria at the time the pictures were taken.

Didn't you know that in 1990 Estaban was critically injured in a horrific accident when a speeding semi crashed into her tour bus? Her back was broken and she wasn't expected to walk again. After receiving titanium implants and with a resolve of steel, Estaban returned to touring (and dancing) less than a year later. So I'd give her a pass on the slouch.

Winslett once had a well proportioned hourglass figure that perfectly suited her, but alas she's succumbing to the Hollywood ideal of androgynous waif. Pity that.

There are quite a few lesbian couples where one partner is a lipstick lesbian and the other other partner is trying to look masculine. Why is the lipstick lesbian attracted to a woman who is trying to look masculine?

Chaz was a gay woman who tried to look masculine before getting the sex change. How common is it for lesbians who want to look masculine to be unhappy with being a woman and preferring to be a man? Can a lesbian who is unhappy with being a woman actually be considered a lesbian? Maybe many lesbians who like to project a masculine persona would actually be happier as men who are straight. It is clear why such a person would be attracted to women.

What is not clear is why the lipstick lesbian is attracted to a woman who projects a masculine persona.

Well, at least the hour-glass dress is intended to make the woman wearing it look better. The WSJ.com has a slide show about the feminization of male fashion, and it's quite bizarre. Not intended at all to men look good. The 'manties' and the 'mankini' were particularly ridiculous. Unlike the hour-glass dress, it's hard to imagine that anyone would actually buy that stuff.

jam, if you look at a lot of belly dancers, a good many have midsections more like Gloria's than Kate's. And I don't mean the fat ones.

A lot of women apparently quit belly dancing as an exercise program because it gives them a round, firm belly, rather than a flat man-style one (it would seem exercise there makes women rounder). I don't doubt for a second Gloria's in great shape if she's doing a singing, dancing show.

It is starting to feel that way, isn't it? They'd found a happy medium for a while there, but all this oogling who's lost weight stuff has really led them into a dark place. As it seems to do everyone.

Gloria needs better foundation garments. You can bet that Kate Winslet is wearing some "body smoother" thing that would've been called a girdle by previous generations, and Kate has a bra that fits her properly and puts her girls where they belong, whereas Gloria's bra is actively sabotaging her look. It's not the dress that's bad, it's what she's not wearing under it.